Dci for common tci state update

ABSTRACT

Apparatus, methods, and computer program products for beam updating are provided. An example method includes receiving DCI. The method further includes determining, based on the DCI, whether the DCI is associated with a beam update for uplink, downlink, or a combination of the uplink and the downlink. The method further includes determining, from the DCI, a TCI state that indicates a beam for the uplink, the downlink, or the combination of the uplink and the downlink.

BACKGROUND Technical Field

The present disclosure relates generally to communication systems, andmore particularly, to wireless communication systems with beam updating.

INTRODUCTION

Wireless communication systems are widely deployed to provide varioustelecommunication services such as telephony, video, data, messaging,and broadcasts. Typical wireless communication systems may employmultiple-access technologies capable of supporting communication withmultiple users by sharing available system resources. Examples of suchmultiple-access technologies include code division multiple access(CDMA) systems, time division multiple access (TDMA) systems, frequencydivision multiple access (FDMA) systems, orthogonal frequency divisionmultiple access (OFDMA) systems, single-carrier frequency divisionmultiple access (SC-FDMA) systems, and time division synchronous codedivision multiple access (TD-SCDMA) systems.

These multiple access technologies have been adopted in varioustelecommunication standards to provide a common protocol that enablesdifferent wireless devices to communicate on a municipal, national,regional, and even global level. An example telecommunication standardis 5G New Radio (NR). 5G NR is part of a continuous mobile broadbandevolution promulgated by Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) tomeet new requirements associated with latency, reliability, security,scalability (e.g., with Internet of Things (IoT)), and otherrequirements. 5G NR includes services associated with enhanced mobilebroadband (eMBB), massive machine type communications (mMTC), andultra-reliable low latency communications (URLLC). Some aspects of 5G NRmay be based on the 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) standard. There existsa need for further improvements in 5G NR technology. These improvementsmay also be applicable to other multi-access technologies and thetelecommunication standards that employ these technologies.

SUMMARY

The following presents a simplified summary of one or more aspects inorder to provide a basic understanding of such aspects. This summary isnot an extensive overview of all contemplated aspects, and is intendedto neither identify key or critical elements of all aspects nordelineate the scope of any or all aspects. Its sole purpose is topresent some concepts of one or more aspects in a simplified form as aprelude to the more detailed description that is presented later.

In an aspect of the disclosure, a method, a computer-readable medium,and an apparatus at a user equipment (UE) are provided. An example UEmay receive downlink control information (DCI). The example UE maydetermine, from the DCI, a transmission configuration indicator (TCI)state that indicates a beam for the uplink, the downlink, or thecombination of the uplink and the downlink. The example UE maydetermine, from the DCI, a transmission configuration indicator (TCI)state that indicates a beam for the uplink, the downlink, or thecombination of the uplink and the downlink.

To the accomplishment of the foregoing and related ends, the one or moreaspects comprise the features hereinafter fully described andparticularly pointed out in the claims. The following description andthe annexed drawings set forth in detail certain illustrative featuresof the one or more aspects. These features are indicative, however, ofbut a few of the various ways in which the principles of various aspectsmay be employed, and this description is intended to include all suchaspects and their equivalents.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a wireless communicationssystem and an access network.

FIG. 2A is a diagram illustrating an example of a first frame, inaccordance with various aspects of the present disclosure.

FIG. 2B is a diagram illustrating an example of DL channels within asubframe, in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure.

FIG. 2C is a diagram illustrating an example of a second frame, inaccordance with various aspects of the present disclosure.

FIG. 2D is a diagram illustrating an example of UL channels within asubframe, in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a base station and userequipment (UE) in an access network.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a base station in communication with aUE.

FIG. 5A is a call flow diagram of signaling between a UE and a basestation in accordance with certain aspects of the disclosure.

FIG. 5B illustrates examples of DCI having different purposes.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of a method of wireless communication.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of a method of wireless communication.

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating an example of a hardware implementationfor an example apparatus.

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating an example of a hardware implementationfor an example apparatus.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The detailed description set forth below in connection with the appendeddrawings is intended as a description of various configurations and isnot intended to represent the only configurations in which the conceptsdescribed herein may be practiced. The detailed description includesspecific details for the purpose of providing a thorough understandingof various concepts. However, it will be apparent to those skilled inthe art that these concepts may be practiced without these specificdetails. In some instances, well known structures and components areshown in block diagram form in order to avoid obscuring such concepts.

Several aspects of telecommunication systems will now be presented withreference to various apparatus and methods. These apparatus and methodswill be described in the following detailed description and illustratedin the accompanying drawings by various blocks, components, circuits,processes, algorithms, etc. (collectively referred to as “elements”).These elements may be implemented using electronic hardware, computersoftware, or any combination thereof. Whether such elements areimplemented as hardware or software depends upon the particularapplication and design constraints imposed on the overall system.

By way of example, an element, or any portion of an element, or anycombination of elements may be implemented as a “processing system” thatincludes one or more processors. Examples of processors includemicroprocessors, microcontrollers, graphics processing units (GPUs),central processing units (CPUs), application processors, digital signalprocessors (DSPs), reduced instruction set computing (RISC) processors,systems on a chip (SoC), baseband processors, field programmable gatearrays (FPGAs), programmable logic devices (PLDs), state machines, gatedlogic, discrete hardware circuits, and other suitable hardwareconfigured to perform the various functionality described throughoutthis disclosure. One or more processors in the processing system mayexecute software. Software shall be construed broadly to meaninstructions, instruction sets, code, code segments, program code,programs, subprograms, software components, applications, softwareapplications, software packages, routines, subroutines, objects,executables, threads of execution, procedures, functions, etc., whetherreferred to as software, firmware, middleware, microcode, hardwaredescription language, or otherwise.

Accordingly, in one or more example embodiments, the functions describedmay be implemented in hardware, software, or any combination thereof. Ifimplemented in software, the functions may be stored on or encoded asone or more instructions or code on a computer-readable medium.Computer-readable media includes computer storage media. Storage mediamay be any available media that can be accessed by a computer. By way ofexample, and not limitation, such computer-readable media can comprise arandom-access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an electricallyerasable programmable ROM (EEPROM), optical disk storage, magnetic diskstorage, other magnetic storage devices, combinations of theaforementioned types of computer-readable media, or any other mediumthat can be used to store computer executable code in the form ofinstructions or data structures that can be accessed by a computer.

In some wireless communication systems, TCI may include a TCI state thatincludes at least one source reference signal (RS) to provide areference (e.g., a basis for a UE assumption) to determinequasi-colocation (QCL) relationship or a spatial filter (e.g., beam) forwireless communication. TCI states may be used by a base station toindicate a beam change to a UE. Various types of TCI states may be used.For example, one TCI state may indicate a joint downlink (DL)/uplink(UL) common TCI state to indicate a common beam for at least one DLchannel or DL RS plus at least one UL channel or UL RS. Another exampleTCI state may indicate a separate DL common TCI state to indicate acommon beam for more than one DL channel or DL RS, e.g., and not for anUL channel or UL RS. Yet another example TCI state may indicate aseparate UL common TCI state to indicate a common beam for more than oneUL channel or UL RS, e.g., and not for a DL channel or DL RS. Inaddition, in some aspects, separate TCI states, one for DL and one forUL, may be utilized. For the separate DL TCI state, the source referencesignal(s) in multiple TCIs (e.g., M TCIs with M being an integer number)provide QCL information at least for UE-dedicated reception on physicaldownlink shared channel (PDSCH) and for UE-dedicated reception on all orsubset of control resource sets (CORESETs) in a CC. For the separate ULTCI, the source reference signal(s) in N TCIs (e.g., with N being aninteger number) may provide a reference for determining common UL TXspatial filter(s) (i.e., beams) at least fordynamic-grant/configured-grant based physical uplink shared channel(PUSCH), all or subset of dedicated physical uplink control channel(PUCCH) resources in a CC. In addition, the UL TX spatial filter canalso apply to all SRS resources in resource set(s) configured forantenna switching/codebook-based/non-codebook-based UL transmissions.

In some wireless communication systems, DCI may be used to update beamindications under such a TCI framework. The DCI that indicates the beamupdate may further schedule transmissions such as a PDSCH or a PUSCH.Aspects provided herein enable DCI for beam updating that may flexiblyschedule or not schedule a transmission.

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a wireless communicationssystem and an access network 100. The wireless communications system(also referred to as a wireless wide area network (WWAN)) includes basestations 102, UEs 104, an Evolved Packet Core (EPC) 160, and anothercore network 190 (e.g., a 5G Core (5GC)). The base stations 102 mayinclude macrocells (high power cellular base station) and/or small cells(low power cellular base station). The macrocells include base stations.The small cells include femtocells, picocells, and microcells.

The base stations 102 configured for 4G LTE (collectively referred to asEvolved Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) TerrestrialRadio Access Network (E-UTRAN)) may interface with the EPC 160 throughfirst backhaul links 132 (e.g., 51 interface). The base stations 102configured for 5G NR (collectively referred to as Next Generation RAN(NG-RAN)) may interface with core network 190 through second backhaullinks 184. In addition to other functions, the base stations 102 mayperform one or more of the following functions: transfer of user data,radio channel ciphering and deciphering, integrity protection, headercompression, mobility control functions (e.g., handover, dualconnectivity), inter-cell interference coordination, connection setupand release, load balancing, distribution for non-access stratum (NAS)messages, NAS node selection, synchronization, radio access network(RAN) sharing, multimedia broadcast multicast service (MBMS), subscriberand equipment trace, RAN information management (RIM), paging,positioning, and delivery of warning messages. The base stations 102 maycommunicate directly or indirectly (e.g., through the EPC 160 or corenetwork 190) with each other over third backhaul links 134 (e.g., X2interface). The first backhaul links 132, the second backhaul links 184,and the third backhaul links 134 may be wired or wireless.

The base stations 102 may wirelessly communicate with the UEs 104. Eachof the base stations 102 may provide communication coverage for arespective geographic coverage area 110. There may be overlappinggeographic coverage areas 110. For example, the small cell 102′ may havea coverage area 110′ that overlaps the coverage area 110 of one or moremacro base stations 102. A network that includes both small cell andmacrocells may be known as a heterogeneous network. A heterogeneousnetwork may also include Home Evolved Node Bs (eNBs) (HeNBs), which mayprovide service to a restricted group known as a closed subscriber group(CSG). The communication links 120 between the base stations 102 and theUEs 104 may include uplink (UL) (also referred to as reverse link)transmissions from a UE 104 to a base station 102 and/or downlink (DL)(also referred to as forward link) transmissions from a base station 102to a UE 104. The communication links 120 may use multiple-input andmultiple-output (MIMO) antenna technology, including spatialmultiplexing, beamforming, and/or transmit diversity. The communicationlinks may be through one or more carriers. The base stations 102/UEs 104may use spectrum up to Y MHz (e.g., 5, 10, 15, 20, 100, 400, etc. MHz)bandwidth per carrier allocated in a carrier aggregation of up to atotal of Yx MHz (x component carriers) used for transmission in eachdirection. The carriers may or may not be adjacent to each other.Allocation of carriers may be asymmetric with respect to DL and UL(e.g., more or fewer carriers may be allocated for DL than for UL). Thecomponent carriers may include a primary component carrier and one ormore secondary component carriers. A primary component carrier may bereferred to as a primary cell (PCell) and a secondary component carriermay be referred to as a secondary cell (SCell).

Certain UEs 104 may communicate with each other using device-to-device(D2D) communication link 158. The D2D communication link 158 may use theDL/UL WWAN spectrum. The D2D communication link 158 may use one or moresidelink channels, such as a physical sidelink broadcast channel(PSBCH), a physical sidelink discovery channel (PSDCH), a physicalsidelink shared channel (PSSCH), and a physical sidelink control channel(PSCCH). D2D communication may be through a variety of wireless D2Dcommunications systems, such as for example, WiMedia, Bluetooth, ZigBee,Wi-Fi based on the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers(IEEE) 802.11 standard, LTE, or NR.

The wireless communications system may further include a Wi-Fi accesspoint (AP) 150 in communication with Wi-Fi stations (STAs) 152 viacommunication links 154, e.g., in a 5 GHz unlicensed frequency spectrumor the like. When communicating in an unlicensed frequency spectrum, theSTAs 152/AP 150 may perform a clear channel assessment (CCA) prior tocommunicating in order to determine whether the channel is available.

The small cell 102′ may operate in a licensed and/or an unlicensedfrequency spectrum. When operating in an unlicensed frequency spectrum,the small cell 102′ may employ NR and use the same unlicensed frequencyspectrum (e.g., 5 GHz, or the like) as used by the Wi-Fi AP 150. Thesmall cell 102′, employing NR in an unlicensed frequency spectrum, mayboost coverage to and/or increase capacity of the access network.

The electromagnetic spectrum is often subdivided, based onfrequency/wavelength, into various classes, bands, channels, etc. In 5GNR, two initial operating bands have been identified as frequency rangedesignations FR1 (410 MHz-7.125 GHz) and FR2 (24.25 GHz-52.6 GHz). Thefrequencies between FR1 and FR2 are often referred to as mid-bandfrequencies. Although a portion of FR1 is greater than 6 GHz, FR1 isoften referred to (interchangeably) as a “sub-6 GHz” band in variousdocuments and articles. A similar nomenclature issue sometimes occurswith regard to FR2, which is often referred to (interchangeably) as a“millimeter wave” band in documents and articles, despite beingdifferent from the extremely high frequency (EHF) band (30 GHz-300 GHz)which is identified by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU)as a “millimeter wave” band.

With the above aspects in mind, unless specifically stated otherwise, itshould be understood that the term “sub-6 GHz” or the like if usedherein may broadly represent frequencies that may be less than 6 GHz,may be within FR1, or may include mid-band frequencies. Further, unlessspecifically stated otherwise, it should be understood that the term“millimeter wave” or the like if used herein may broadly representfrequencies that may include mid-band frequencies, may be within FR2, ormay be within the EHF band.

A base station 102, whether a small cell 102′ or a large cell (e.g.,macro base station), may include and/or be referred to as an eNB, gNodeB(gNB), or another type of base station. Some base stations, such as gNB180 may operate in a traditional sub 6 GHz spectrum, in millimeter wavefrequencies, and/or near millimeter wave frequencies in communicationwith the UE 104. When the gNB 180 operates in millimeter wave or nearmillimeter wave frequencies, the gNB 180 may be referred to as amillimeter wave base station. The millimeter wave base station 180 mayutilize beamforming 182 with the UE 104 to compensate for the path lossand short range. The base station 180 and the UE 104 may each include aplurality of antennas, such as antenna elements, antenna panels, and/orantenna arrays to facilitate the beamforming.

The base station 180 may transmit a beamformed signal to the UE 104 inone or more transmit directions 182′. The UE 104 may receive thebeamformed signal from the base station 180 in one or more receivedirections 182″. The UE 104 may also transmit a beamformed signal to thebase station 180 in one or more transmit directions. The base station180 may receive the beamformed signal from the UE 104 in one or morereceive directions. The base station 180/UE 104 may perform beamtraining to determine the best receive and transmit directions for eachof the base station 180/UE 104. The transmit and receive directions forthe base station 180 may or may not be the same. The transmit andreceive directions for the UE 104 may or may not be the same.

The EPC 160 may include a Mobility Management Entity (MME) 162, otherMMEs 164, a Serving Gateway 166, a Multimedia Broadcast MulticastService (MBMS) Gateway 168, a Broadcast Multicast Service Center (BM-SC)170, and a Packet Data Network (PDN) Gateway 172. The MME 162 may be incommunication with a Home Subscriber Server (HSS) 174. The MME 162 isthe control node that processes the signaling between the UEs 104 andthe EPC 160. Generally, the MME 162 provides bearer and connectionmanagement. All user Internet protocol (IP) packets are transferredthrough the Serving Gateway 166, which itself is connected to the PDNGateway 172. The PDN Gateway 172 provides UE IP address allocation aswell as other functions. The PDN Gateway 172 and the BM-SC 170 areconnected to the IP Services 176. The IP Services 176 may include theInternet, an intranet, an IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS), a PS StreamingService, and/or other IP services. The BM-SC 170 may provide functionsfor MBMS user service provisioning and delivery. The BM-SC 170 may serveas an entry point for content provider MBMS transmission, may be used toauthorize and initiate MBMS Bearer Services within a public land mobilenetwork (PLMN), and may be used to schedule MBMS transmissions. The MBMSGateway 168 may be used to distribute MBMS traffic to the base stations102 belonging to a Multicast Broadcast Single Frequency Network (MBSFN)area broadcasting a particular service, and may be responsible forsession management (start/stop) and for collecting eMBMS relatedcharging information.

The core network 190 may include a Access and Mobility ManagementFunction (AMF) 192, other AMFs 193, a Session Management Function (SMF)194, and a User Plane Function (UPF) 195. The AMF 192 may be incommunication with a Unified Data Management (UDM) 196. The AMF 192 isthe control node that processes the signaling between the UEs 104 andthe core network 190. Generally, the AMF 192 provides QoS flow andsession management. All user Internet protocol (IP) packets aretransferred through the UPF 195. The UPF 195 provides UE IP addressallocation as well as other functions. The UPF 195 is connected to theIP Services 197. The IP Services 197 may include the Internet, anintranet, an IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS), a Packet Switch (PS)Streaming (PSS) Service, and/or other IP services.

The base station may include and/or be referred to as a gNB, Node B,eNB, an access point, a base transceiver station, a radio base station,a radio transceiver, a transceiver function, a basic service set (BSS),an extended service set (ESS), a transmit reception point (TRP), or someother suitable terminology. The base station 102 provides an accesspoint to the EPC 160 or core network 190 for a UE 104. Examples of UEs104 include a cellular phone, a smart phone, a session initiationprotocol (SIP) phone, a laptop, a personal digital assistant (PDA), asatellite radio, a global positioning system, a multimedia device, avideo device, a digital audio player (e.g., MP3 player), a camera, agame console, a tablet, a smart device, a wearable device, a vehicle, anelectric meter, a gas pump, a large or small kitchen appliance, ahealthcare device, an implant, a sensor/actuator, a display, or anyother similar functioning device. Some of the UEs 104 may be referred toas IoT devices (e.g., parking meter, gas pump, toaster, vehicles, heartmonitor, etc.). The UE 104 may also be referred to as a station, amobile station, a subscriber station, a mobile unit, a subscriber unit,a wireless unit, a remote unit, a mobile device, a wireless device, awireless communications device, a remote device, a mobile subscriberstation, an access terminal, a mobile terminal, a wireless terminal, aremote terminal, a handset, a user agent, a mobile client, a client, orsome other suitable terminology.

Referring again to FIG. 1, in certain aspects, the UE 104 may includeDCI component 198. In some aspects, the DCI component 198 may beconfigured to receive DCI. In some aspects, the DCI component 198 may befurther configured to determine, based on the DCI, whether the DCI isassociated with a beam update for uplink, downlink, or a combination ofthe uplink and the downlink. In some aspects, the DCI component 198 maybe further configured to determine, from the DCI, a TCI state thatindicates a beam for the uplink, the downlink, or the combination of theuplink and the downlink. Although the following description may befocused on 5G NR, the concepts described herein may be applicable toother similar areas, such as LTE, LTE-A, CDMA, GSM, and other wirelesstechnologies.

FIG. 2A is a diagram 200 illustrating an example of a first subframewithin a 5G NR frame structure. FIG. 2B is a diagram 230 illustrating anexample of DL channels within a 5G NR subframe. FIG. 2C is a diagram 250illustrating an example of a second subframe within a 5G NR framestructure. FIG. 2D is a diagram 280 illustrating an example of ULchannels within a 5G NR subframe. The 5G NR frame structure may befrequency division duplexed (FDD) in which for a particular set ofsubcarriers (carrier system bandwidth), subframes within the set ofsubcarriers are dedicated for either DL or UL, or may be time divisionduplexed (TDD) in which for a particular set of subcarriers (carriersystem bandwidth), subframes within the set of subcarriers are dedicatedfor both DL and UL. In the examples provided by FIGS. 2A, 2C, the 5G NRframe structure is assumed to be TDD, with subframe 4 being configuredwith slot format 28 (with mostly DL), where D is DL, U is UL, and F isflexible for use between DL/UL, and subframe 3 being configured withslot format 1 (with all UL). While subframes 3, 4 are shown with slotformats 1, 28, respectively, any particular subframe may be configuredwith any of the various available slot formats 0-61. Slot formats 0, 1are all DL, UL, respectively. Other slot formats 2-61 include a mix ofDL, UL, and flexible symbols. UEs are configured with the slot format(dynamically through DL control information (DCI), orsemi-statically/statically through radio resource control (RRC)signaling) through a received slot format indicator (SFI). Note that thedescription infra applies also to a 5G NR frame structure that is TDD.

Other wireless communication technologies may have a different framestructure and/or different channels. A frame (10 ms) may be divided into10 equally sized subframes (1 ms). Each subframe may include one or moretime slots. Subframes may also include mini-slots, which may include 7,4, or 2 symbols. Each slot may include 7 or 14 symbols, depending on theslot configuration. For slot configuration 0, each slot may include 14symbols, and for slot configuration 1, each slot may include 7 symbols.The symbols on DL may be cyclic prefix (CP) orthogonal frequencydivision multiplexing (OFDM) (CP-OFDM) symbols. The symbols on UL may beCP-OFDM symbols (for high throughput scenarios) or discrete Fouriertransform (DFT) spread OFDM (DFT-s-OFDM) symbols (also referred to assingle carrier frequency-division multiple access (SC-FDMA) symbols)(for power limited scenarios; limited to a single stream transmission).The number of slots within a subframe is based on the slot configurationand the numerology. For slot configuration 0, different numerologies μ 0to 4 allow for 1, 2, 4, 8, and 16 slots, respectively, per subframe. Forslot configuration 1, different numerologies 0 to 2 allow for 2, 4, and8 slots, respectively, per subframe. Accordingly, for slot configuration0 and numerology μ, there are 14 symbols/slot and 2μ slots/subframe. Thesubcarrier spacing and symbol length/duration are a function of thenumerology. The subcarrier spacing may be equal to 2^(μ)*15 kHz, where μis the numerology 0 to 4. As such, the numerology μ=0 has a subcarrierspacing of 15 kHz and the numerology μ=4 has a subcarrier spacing of 240kHz. The symbol length/duration is inversely related to the subcarrierspacing. FIGS. 2A-2D provide an example of slot configuration 0 with 14symbols per slot and numerology μ=2 with 4 slots per subframe. The slotduration is 0.25 ms, the subcarrier spacing is 60 kHz, and the symbolduration is approximately 16.67 μs. Within a set of frames, there may beone or more different bandwidth parts (BWPs) (see FIG. 2B) that arefrequency division multiplexed. Each BWP may have a particularnumerology.

A resource grid may be used to represent the frame structure. Each timeslot includes a resource block (RB) (also referred to as physical RBs(PRBs)) that extends 12 consecutive subcarriers. The resource grid isdivided into multiple resource elements (REs). The number of bitscarried by each RE depends on the modulation scheme.

As illustrated in FIG. 2A, some of the REs carry reference (pilot)signals (RS) for the UE. The RS may include demodulation RS (DM-RS)(indicated as R for one particular configuration, but other DM-RSconfigurations are possible) and channel state information referencesignals (CSI-RS) for channel estimation at the UE. The RS may alsoinclude beam measurement RS (BRS), beam refinement RS (BRRS), and phasetracking RS (PT-RS).

FIG. 2B illustrates an example of various DL channels within a subframeof a frame. The physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) carries DCIwithin one or more control channel elements (CCEs) (e.g., 1, 2, 4, 8, or16 CCEs), each CCE including six RE groups (REGs), each REG including 12consecutive REs in an OFDM symbol of an RB. A PDCCH within one BWP maybe referred to as a control resource set (CORESET). A UE is configuredto monitor PDCCH candidates in a PDCCH search space (e.g., common searchspace, UE-specific search space) during PDCCH monitoring occasions onthe CORESET, where the PDCCH candidates have different DCI formats anddifferent aggregation levels. Additional BWPs may be located at greaterand/or lower frequencies across the channel bandwidth. A primarysynchronization signal (PSS) may be within symbol 2 of particularsubframes of a frame. The PSS is used by a UE 104 to determinesubframe/symbol timing and a physical layer identity. A secondarysynchronization signal (SSS) may be within symbol 4 of particularsubframes of a frame. The SSS is used by a UE to determine a physicallayer cell identity group number and radio frame timing. Based on thephysical layer identity and the physical layer cell identity groupnumber, the UE can determine a physical cell identifier (PCI). Based onthe PCI, the UE can determine the locations of the aforementioned DM-RS.The physical broadcast channel (PBCH), which carries a masterinformation block (MIB), may be logically grouped with the PSS and SSSto form a synchronization signal (SS)/PBCH block (also referred to as SSblock (SSB)). The MIB provides a number of RBs in the system bandwidthand a system frame number (SFN). The physical downlink shared channel(PDSCH) carries user data, broadcast system information not transmittedthrough the PBCH such as system information blocks (SIBs), and pagingmessages.

As illustrated in FIG. 2C, some of the REs carry DM-RS (indicated as Rfor one particular configuration, but other DM-RS configurations arepossible) for channel estimation at the base station. The UE maytransmit DM-RS for the physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) and DM-RSfor the physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH). The PUSCH DM-RS may betransmitted in the first one or two symbols of the PUSCH. The PUCCHDM-RS may be transmitted in different configurations depending onwhether short or long PUCCHs are transmitted and depending on theparticular PUCCH format used. The UE may transmit sounding referencesignals (SRS). The SRS may be transmitted in the last symbol of asubframe. The SRS may have a comb structure, and a UE may transmit SRSon one of the combs. The SRS may be used by a base station for channelquality estimation to enable frequency-dependent scheduling on the UL.

FIG. 2D illustrates an example of various UL channels within a subframeof a frame. The PUCCH may be located as indicated in one configuration.The PUCCH carries uplink control information (UCI), such as schedulingrequests, a channel quality indicator (CQI), a precoding matrixindicator (PMI), a rank indicator (RI), and hybrid automatic repeatrequest (HARQ) acknowledgment (ACK) (HARQ-ACK) information (ACK/negativeACK (NACK)) feedback. The PUSCH carries data, and may additionally beused to carry a buffer status report (BSR), a power headroom report(PHR), and/or UCI.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a base station 310 in communication with aUE 350 in an access network. In the DL, IP packets from the EPC 160 maybe provided to a controller/processor 375. The controller/processor 375implements layer 3 and layer 2 functionality. Layer 3 includes a radioresource control (RRC) layer, and layer 2 includes a service dataadaptation protocol (SDAP) layer, a packet data convergence protocol(PDCP) layer, a radio link control (RLC) layer, and a medium accesscontrol (MAC) layer. The controller/processor 375 provides RRC layerfunctionality associated with broadcasting of system information (e.g.,MIB, SIBs), RRC connection control (e.g., RRC connection paging, RRCconnection establishment, RRC connection modification, and RRCconnection release), inter radio access technology (RAT) mobility, andmeasurement configuration for UE measurement reporting; PDCP layerfunctionality associated with header compression/decompression, security(ciphering, deciphering, integrity protection, integrity verification),and handover support functions; RLC layer functionality associated withthe transfer of upper layer packet data units (PDUs), error correctionthrough ARQ, concatenation, segmentation, and reassembly of RLC servicedata units (SDUs), re-segmentation of RLC data PDUs, and reordering ofRLC data PDUs; and MAC layer functionality associated with mappingbetween logical channels and transport channels, multiplexing of MACSDUs onto transport blocks (TBs), demultiplexing of MAC SDUs from TBs,scheduling information reporting, error correction through HARQ,priority handling, and logical channel prioritization.

The transmit (TX) processor 316 and the receive (RX) processor 370implement layer 1 functionality associated with various signalprocessing functions. Layer 1, which includes a physical (PHY) layer,may include error detection on the transport channels, forward errorcorrection (FEC) coding/decoding of the transport channels,interleaving, rate matching, mapping onto physical channels,modulation/demodulation of physical channels, and MIMO antennaprocessing. The TX processor 316 handles mapping to signalconstellations based on various modulation schemes (e.g., binaryphase-shift keying (BPSK), quadrature phase-shift keying (QPSK),M-phase-shift keying (M-PSK), M-quadrature amplitude modulation(M-QAM)). The coded and modulated symbols may then be split intoparallel streams. Each stream may then be mapped to an OFDM subcarrier,multiplexed with a reference signal (e.g., pilot) in the time and/orfrequency domain, and then combined together using an Inverse FastFourier Transform (IFFT) to produce a physical channel carrying a timedomain OFDM symbol stream. The OFDM stream is spatially precoded toproduce multiple spatial streams. Channel estimates from a channelestimator 374 may be used to determine the coding and modulation scheme,as well as for spatial processing. The channel estimate may be derivedfrom a reference signal and/or channel condition feedback transmitted bythe UE 350. Each spatial stream may then be provided to a differentantenna 320 via a separate transmitter 318 TX. Each transmitter 318 TXmay modulate an RF carrier with a respective spatial stream fortransmission.

At the UE 350, each receiver 354 RX receives a signal through itsrespective antenna 352. Each receiver 354 RX recovers informationmodulated onto an RF carrier and provides the information to the receive(RX) processor 356. The TX processor 368 and the RX processor 356implement layer 1 functionality associated with various signalprocessing functions. The RX processor 356 may perform spatialprocessing on the information to recover any spatial streams destinedfor the UE 350. If multiple spatial streams are destined for the UE 350,they may be combined by the RX processor 356 into a single OFDM symbolstream. The RX processor 356 then converts the OFDM symbol stream fromthe time-domain to the frequency domain using a Fast Fourier Transform(FFT). The frequency domain signal comprises a separate OFDM symbolstream for each subcarrier of the OFDM signal. The symbols on eachsubcarrier, and the reference signal, are recovered and demodulated bydetermining the most likely signal constellation points transmitted bythe base station 310. These soft decisions may be based on channelestimates computed by the channel estimator 358. The soft decisions arethen decoded and deinterleaved to recover the data and control signalsthat were originally transmitted by the base station 310 on the physicalchannel. The data and control signals are then provided to thecontroller/processor 359, which implements layer 3 and layer 2functionality.

The controller/processor 359 can be associated with a memory 360 thatstores program codes and data. The memory 360 may be referred to as acomputer-readable medium. In the UL, the controller/processor 359provides demultiplexing between transport and logical channels, packetreassembly, deciphering, header decompression, and control signalprocessing to recover IP packets from the EPC 160. Thecontroller/processor 359 is also responsible for error detection usingan ACK and/or NACK protocol to support HARQ operations.

Similar to the functionality described in connection with the DLtransmission by the base station 310, the controller/processor 359provides RRC layer functionality associated with system information(e.g., MIB, SIBs) acquisition, RRC connections, and measurementreporting; PDCP layer functionality associated with headercompression/decompression, and security (ciphering, deciphering,integrity protection, integrity verification); RLC layer functionalityassociated with the transfer of upper layer PDUs, error correctionthrough ARQ, concatenation, segmentation, and reassembly of RLC SDUs,re-segmentation of RLC data PDUs, and reordering of RLC data PDUs; andMAC layer functionality associated with mapping between logical channelsand transport channels, multiplexing of MAC SDUs onto TBs,demultiplexing of MAC SDUs from TBs, scheduling information reporting,error correction through HARQ, priority handling, and logical channelprioritization.

Channel estimates derived by a channel estimator 358 from a referencesignal or feedback transmitted by the base station 310 may be used bythe TX processor 368 to select the appropriate coding and modulationschemes, and to facilitate spatial processing. The spatial streamsgenerated by the TX processor 368 may be provided to different antenna352 via separate transmitters 354TX. Each transmitter 354TX may modulatean RF carrier with a respective spatial stream for transmission.

The UL transmission is processed at the base station 310 in a mannersimilar to that described in connection with the receiver function atthe UE 350. Each receiver 318RX receives a signal through its respectiveantenna 320. Each receiver 318RX recovers information modulated onto anRF carrier and provides the information to a RX processor 370.

The controller/processor 375 can be associated with a memory 376 thatstores program codes and data. The memory 376 may be referred to as acomputer-readable medium. In the UL, the controller/processor 375provides demultiplexing between transport and logical channels, packetreassembly, deciphering, header decompression, control signal processingto recover IP packets from the UE 350. IP packets from thecontroller/processor 375 may be provided to the EPC 160. Thecontroller/processor 375 is also responsible for error detection usingan ACK and/or NACK protocol to support HARQ operations.

At least one of the TX processor 368, the RX processor 356, and thecontroller/processor 359 may be configured to perform aspects inconnection with DCI component 198 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a diagram 400 illustrating a base station 402 in communicationwith a UE 404. Referring to FIG. 4, the base station 402 may transmit abeamformed signal to the UE 404 in one or more of the directions 402 a,402 b, 402 c, 402 d, 402 e, 402 f, 402 g, 402 h. The UE 404 may receivethe beamformed signal from the base station 402 in one or more receivedirections 404 a, 404 b, 404 c, 404 d. The UE 404 may also transmit abeamformed signal to the base station 402 in one or more of thedirections 404 a-404 d. The base station 402 may receive the beamformedsignal from the UE 404 in one or more of the receive directions 402a-402 h. The base station 402/UE 404 may perform beam training todetermine the best receive and transmit directions for each of the basestation 402/UE 404. The transmit and receive directions for the basestation 402 may or may not be the same. The transmit and receivedirections for the UE 404 may or may not be the same.

In response to different conditions, such as a DCI for beam updatingprovided herein, the UE 404 may determine to switch beams, e.g., betweenbeams 402 a-402 h or may determine that the base station will switchbetween beams. The beam at the UE 404 may be used for the reception ofdownlink communication and/or transmission of uplink communication. Thebeam at the base station 402 may be used for uplink reception and/ordownlink transmission. In some examples, the base station 402 may send atransmission that triggers a beam switch by the UE 404. For example, thebase station 402 may indicate a TCI state change, and in response, theUE 404 may switch to a new beam for the new TCI state of the basestation 402. In some instances, a UE may receive a signal, from a basestation, configured to trigger a transmission configuration indication(TCI) state change via, for example, a MAC control element (CE) command.The TCI state change may cause the UE to find the best UE receive beamcorresponding to the TCI state from the base station, and switch to suchbeam. Switching beams may improve connection between the UE and the basestation by ensuring that the transmitter and receiver use acorresponding configured set of beams for communication and byaddressing varying conditions between the base station and the UE and/ormovement by the UE or the base station. In some aspects, the basestation may transmit DCI, as provided herein, to trigger a TCI statechange for the UE.

The UE 404 may operate using carrier aggregation (CA), and may beconfigured to communicate with the network via a base station 402utilizing multiple component carriers (CCs). For example, the UE 404 maycommunicate with the base station 402 using a primary cell (PCell) and asecondary cell (SCell). Carrier aggregation may allow the UE 404 totransmit and/or receive data, simultaneously, on multiple CCs from asingle base station 402. Each aggregated carrier may be referred to as aCC. Carrier aggregation may also allow the UE 404 to communicate on oneor more concurrent beams. The UE may partition the CCs into differentgroups under carrier aggregation. For example, CCs in the same group mayuse the same beam, while CCs in a different group may use differentbeams or independent beams. For example, a UE supporting three carriersand two beams may group a first and second CC into a group using thefirst beam and a third CC may use the second beam.

In some wireless communication systems, TCI may include a TCI state thatincludes at least one source RS to provide a reference e.g., a basis fora UE assumption) to determine a QCL relationship or a spatial filter(e.g., beam) for wireless communication. TCI states may be used by abase station to indicate a beam change to a UE. Various types of TCIstates may be used. For example, one TCI state (type 1) may indicate ajoint DL or UL common TCI state to indicate a common beam for at leastone DL channel or DL RS plus at least one UL channel or UL RS. Anotherexample TCI state (type 2) may indicate a separate DL common TCI stateto indicate a common beam for more than one DL channel or DL RS, e.g.,and not for an UL channel or UL RS. Yet another example TCI state (type3) may indicate a separate UL common TCI state to indicate a common beamfor more than one UL channel or UL RS, e.g., and not for an UL channelor UL RS. In addition, in some aspects, separate TCI states, one for DLand one for UL, may be utilized. For the separate DL TCI state, thesource reference signal(s) in in multiple TCIs (e.g., M TCIs with Mbeing an integer number) provide QCL information at least forUE-dedicated reception on PDSCH and for UE-dedicated reception on all orsubset of CORESETs in a CC. For the separate UL TCI state, the sourcereference signal(s) in N TCIs (e.g., with N being an integer number) mayprovide a reference for determining common UL TX spatial filter(s)(i.e., beams) at least for dynamic-grant/configured-grant based PUSCH,all or subset of dedicated PUCCH resources in a CC. In addition, the ULTX spatial filter can also apply to all SRS resources in resource set(s)configured for antenna switching/codebook-based/non-codebook-based ULtransmissions.

In some wireless communication systems, the base station may transmitDCI to update beam indications under such a TCI framework, e.g., in aunified TCI framework that includes TCI indications for common beams.The DCI may additionally schedule transmissions such as a PDSCH or aPUSCH. Aspects provided herein enable DCI for beam updating that mayflexibly schedule or not schedule a transmission. For example, in someaspects, a base station may use DCI formats 1_1 and 1_2 to includeUL-only TCI state update beam indications (e.g., for separate UL/DL TCIstate indications). In some aspects, other DCI formats, such as newlydefined DCI formats, may be used.

Example types of TCI states include types 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6. Inaddition to the types 1-3 explained above, a type 4 TCI state mayinclude a separate DL single channel/RS TCI state to indicate a beam fora single DL channel/DL RS. The Type 5 TCI state may include a separateUL single channel/RS TCI state to indicate a beam for a single ULchannel/UL RS. The Type 6 TCI state may include an UL spatial relationinformation (SRI) to indicate a beam for a single UL channel/UL RS.Among DCI formats 0_0, 0_1, 0_2, 1_0, 1_1, 1_2, DCI format 1_1 and 1_2may contain a TCI field that indicates a TCI state, and DCI format 0_1,0_2 may contain an SRI field for spatial-relation information.

A set of cyclic redundancy check (CRC) bits may be associated with theDCI and may be scrambled with a network temporary identifier (RNTI). Forexample, the base station may use a DCI with CRC scrambled with aconfigured scheduling-radio network temporary identifier (RNTI)(CS-RNTI) to schedule resources for semi-persistent scheduling (SPS)PDSCH or configured grant (CG) PUSCH or to activate/release/reactivateSPS PDSCH or CG PUSCH. For example, if a new data indicator (NDI) fieldof the DCI is set to 0 and if a CRC associated with the DCI is scrambledwith CS-RNTI, the UE may determine that the DCI is to activate/release aconfiguration for SPS PDSCH or CG PUSCH. If the NDI field of the DCI isset to 1 and if a CRC associated with the DCI is scrambled with CS-RNTI,the UE may determine that the DCI schedules retransmission for SPS PDSCHor CG PUSCH. The UE may further confirm that DCI is used toschedule/activate/release SPS PDSCH or CG PUSCH based on a set of one ormore fields. For example, if the DCI has CRC scrambled with acorresponding CS-RNTI (which indicates to the UE that the DCI is toschedule a retransmission/activate/release SPS or CG resources) and theNDI field is set to 0 (e.g., indicating an initial transmission), the UEmay determine that the DCI is not for a retransmission. An NDI set to“1” is associated with a retransmission. If the fields (which may bereferred to as special fields or a subset of fields) such as RV, MCS,FDRA, etc. match reserved values, the UE may determine a purpose of theDCI. If the fields do not match a particular set of values, the UE maydiscard the DCI. For example, for a single DL SPS or a single UL granttype 2 scheduling activation PDCCH validation when a UE is providedmultiple DL SPS or UL grant type 2 configurations, the UE may check tosee whether the RV field is set to all zeros for DCI format0_0/0_1/0_2/1_0/1_2, or 1_1 (e.g., for the enabled TB). For multiple DLSPS and UL grant type 2 scheduling release PDCCH validation, the UE maycheck to see whether the RV is set to all zeros, the MCS is set to allμs, and the FDRA is set to all 1s for DCI formats 0_0, 0_1, or 0_2. ForDCI formats 1_0, 1_1, or 1_2, the UE may check to see whether the RVfield is set to all zeros, the MCS field is est to all 1s, the FDRA isset to all 0s for FDRA type 0 or to all is for FDRA type 1. If thefields do not match the indicated values, the DCI does not pass thevalidation, and the UE may discard the DCI. If more than one SPSconfiguration is provided to the UE, the HARQ process number field ofthe DCI may indicate the corresponding ID to be released/activated. Whena single SPS configuration is configured for the UE, the HARQ processnumber field in the DCI may be set to all zeros.

FIG. 5A is a communication flow diagram 500 showing example aspects ofsignaling between a UE 502 and a base station 504 including indicatingTCI states to the UE in DCI from the base station. As illustrated inFIG. 5A, the UE 502 may receive a beam-updating DCI 508 from the basestation 504 and may determine a TCI state 509 for one or more of an ULchannel, an UL RS, a DL channel, or a DL RS according to the DCI. Thebeam updating DCI 508 may be one of different DCI formats. In someaspects, the format of the beam updating DCI 508 may be one of DCIformats 0_0, 0_1, 0_2, 1_0, 1_1, 1_2. The beam updating DCI 508 mayinclude a sequence that may indicate a beam updating purpose for the DCI(i.e., beam indication). The CRC associated with the beam updating DCI508 may be scrambled with a RNTI that is not dedicated for beamupdating, such as CS-RNTI, cell-radio RNTI (C-RNTI), or the like. Whenthe sequence is detected by the UE 502, the UE 502 may determine thatthe beam updating DCI 508 is for beam updating. The beam indicationinformation (e.g., new beam TCI state identifier (ID)), may be conveyedin some other field of the DCI. In some aspects, the beam informationmay be indicated separately from the indication that the DCI is for abeam update. Thus, the UE may determine the TCI state based onadditional information in the DCI. For example, the beam indicationinformation may be included in TCI state ID field in DCI format 1_1,1_2; in hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) process number field infallback DCI format, or the like.

In some aspects, the sequence may include reserved values in particularfields of the DCI to indicate to the UE the purpose of beam updating. Insome aspects, the sequence may include a combination of values inparticular fields of the DCI to indicate to the UE the purpose of beamupdating. The sequence of values in one or more fields may be a sequencethat is not used, or is infeasible, when the DCI is used for otherpurposes than beam-updating. The UE may use the value of the fields, atleast in part, to determine that the DCI is a beam updating DCI. Thesequence may indicate to the UE the purpose of beam updating and thebase station may not the sequence in DCI for other purposes anotherpurpose such as transmission, activate/release, or the like. In someexamples, the sequence may be a defined sequence associated with beamupdating or may be a sequence that is not associated with another DCIpurpose. In some examples, the sequence in the DCI may not be applicablefor purposes other than beam updating DCI.

In some aspects, the CRC associated with the beam updating DCI 508 maybe scrambled with CS-RNTI and one or more combinations of validationsequences and special fields (other than the one for SPS PDSCHactivation/release) that indicate a beam update purpose for the DCI. Insome aspects, the validation sequence(s) and/or fields may be definedfor beam updating DCI. In some aspects, CRC associated with the beamupdating DCI 508 may be scrambled with C-RNTI and the sequence may bebased on one or more of: a redundancy version (RV) field, a frequencydomain resource allocation (FDRA) field, a time domain resourceallocation (TDRA) field, a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ)process number field, or a modulation and coding scheme (MCS) field. Asone non-limiting example, the base station may indicate to the UE thatthe DCI is for a beam update by including a same value in each of the RVfield, the FDRA field, the TDRA field, the HARQ process number field,and the MCS field. For example, the UE may determine that a DCI is for abeam update if each of the subset of DCI fields (e.g., the RV field, theFDRA field, the TDRA field, the HARQ process number field, and the MCSfield) has a value of 1. The combination of the RV field, the FDRAfield, the TDRA field, the HARQ process number field, and the MCS fieldare to illustrate the concept. In other aspects, the subset of fieldsmay include a different subset of DCI fields.

In some aspects, the base station may indicate that the DCI is a beamupdating DCI 508 by scrambling the CRC associated with the beam updatingDCI 508 with C-RNTI and including any combination of an NDI field toindicate a new transmission, an MCS field to indicate a reserved MCSvalue for retransmission, and a sequence in additional, particularfields, e.g. all ‘1’ or ‘0’ in HARQ ID, RV field and FDRA. The UE mayuse one or more of the indications to determine that the DCI is a beamupdating DCI. In such aspects, the sequence may not be a sequence thatis used for scheduling retransmission. Thus, by indicating parametersthat are not typically associated, such as an MCS for retransmission andan NDI for a new transmission, or an MCS for retransmission and asequence that is not for retransmission, the base station may indicateto the UE that the DCI is for a beam update, e.g., rather than aretransmission or an initial transmission. The sequence may be asequence that is not used for scheduling retransmissions. The sequencemay be unique to indicating that the DCI is for a beam update. Having aparticular sequence may help the UE to avoid mistaking another purposefor the DCI. FIG. 5B illustrates an example of various types of DCI. Afirst DCI 520 includes a DL grant for an initial transmission (e.g.,having NDI=0 for an initial transmission). A second DCI 522 includes aDL grant for a retransmission (e.g., having NDI=1 for a retransmission).A beam update DCI 524 includes beam update information. The beam updateDCI may include an NDI field for an initial transmission and an MCSassociated with a retransmission as a way of indicating to the UE thatthe DCI is for a beam update rather than a DL grant. Without a sequencevalidation, if the DL grant for a retransmission (e.g., DCI 522) ismissed by the UE, the UE may mistake the beam update DCI 524 for a DLgrant for the retransmission. In some examples, the sequence may be onethat is not used for retransmission DCI so that the UE can distinguishbetween DCI 522 with a DL grant for the retransmission and the beamupdate DCI 524. Thus, the UE may determine that the DCI is a beamscheduling DCI based, at least in part, on the sequence. The basestation may indicate different DCI formats to indicate beam updates forparticular types of TCI states. Thus, the UE may determine that the DCIis a beam scheduling DCI based on the sequence and may determine thetype of TCI state being indicated in the DCI based on the DCI format.For example, DL DCI format may be used to indicate a TCI state for a DLchannel. In some aspects, the beam update DCI, e.g., may provide thebeam update without scheduling a transmission.

In some aspects, such a beam updating DCI 508 of DCI formats 0_0, 0_1,0_2, 1_0, 1_1, or 1_2 may include a sequence that indicates the beamupdating purpose of the DCI (e.g., DCI for beam indication) and with theDCI may have CRC scrambled with a RNTI that is not dedicated for beamupdating, such as CS-RNTI, C-RNTI or the like, and the DCI may notschedule a transmission (such as a communication 512).

In some aspects, the CRC associated with the beam updating DCI 508 maybe scrambled with a type of RNTI that is dedicated for a beam-updatingDCI. The UE receiving the DCI may determine that the DCI is a beamupdating DCI based, at least in part, on the RNTI used to scramble theCRC. In some aspects, the RNTI may be referred to as a beam-updatingRNTI (BU-RNTI). In other aspects, the RNTI may be referred to by anothername. In some aspects, the beam updating DCI 508 may be of DCI format0_0, 0_1, 0_2, 1_0, 1_1, or 1_2. In some aspects, the BU-RNTI mayinclude common a RNTI for all type of TCIs that may be updated by theDCI, and a field inside the beam updating DCI 508 may be used toindicate the particular TCI type that is being updated by the beamupdating DCI 508. In some aspects, the BU-RNTI may include a dedicatedRNTI for a particular type of TCI state, e.g., with each type of TCIstate update being associated with a different, dedicated RNTI. In someaspects, some fields of the DCI may be reused to indicate informationrelated to the TCI update. For example, a HARQ ID field (in the beamupdating DCI 508) may indicate the TCI state ID in fallback DCI. Asanother example, the TCI state ID field in DCI format 1_1 or DCI format1_2 in the beam updating DCI 508 may indicate the new TCI state ID. Insome aspects, after receiving a DCI having CRC scrambled with theBU-RNTI, the UE 502 may verify whether the DCI is a beam updating DCI bychecking if one or more fields using a reserved index for beam updating.If the one or more fields do not include an index associated with beamupdating, the UE 502 may discard the DCI. In some examples, the BU-RNTImay be used to indicate that an existing DCI format is used to indicatea beam update, e.g., without using a DCI format that is dedicated tobeam updates.

In some aspects, the beam updating DCI 508 with CRC scrambled with theBU-RNTI may indicate a beam update without scheduling a transmission.For example, the DCI may be based on a fallback DCI format that does notinclude a TCI field.

In some aspects, when the base station updates the beam of a channel orRS that is different than a scheduled channel/RS, the target channel/RS(e.g., associated with the beam change/TCI state update) and thescheduled channel/RS may not share a common TCI state. For example, thebase station may send DCI to schedule PDSCH and to change a PUSCH beamwhere there is not a common TCI configured for both the DL channel(e.g., PDSCH) and the UL channel (e.g., PUSCH).

In some aspects, such beam updating DCI 508 with CRC scrambled with theBU-RNTI may be used for scheduling a transmission, such as thecommunication 512. For example, when the beam updating DCI 508 is of aDCI format with TCI ID field (e.g. DCI format 1_1 or DCI format 1_2),and if 1) the scheduled channel/RS and target channel/RS of beam updateare the same channel or 2) the beam of the scheduled channel/RS and theupdated beam is defined in some common TCI state, the beam updating DCI508 may be used for beam-updating and simultaneously schedule thecommunication 512. In another example, if the UL beam0 and DL beam1 isdefined in common TCI state 0, the beam updating DCI 508 of format 1_1schedules a PDSCH using C-RNTI and indicating common TCI state 0, thenPDSCH beam may be updated to DL beam1. If the beam updating DCI 508 ofDCI format 1_1 schedules a PDSCH using BU-RNTI and indicating common TCIstate 0, then both PDSCH and PUSCH beam are updated to UL beam0 ad DLbeam1.

In some aspects, the beam-updating DCI 508 may be based on an existingDCI format and may include a field for indicating the beam updatepurpose of the DCI. For example, the base station may use a new field inconnection with an existing DCI to indicate a beam update. The DCIformat may include one or more additional fields for indicating a TCIstate update, e.g., in DCI format 0_0, DCI format 0_1, DCI format 0_2,DCI format 1_0, DCI format 1_1, or DCI format 1_2. The one or morefields may include a TCI state field to indicate an updated beam. Insome aspects, the payload of the DCI format may be dynamicallyconfigured by the base station. In some aspects, the base station mayconfigure a size of the DCI format via radio resource control (RRC). Forexample, when a higher layer indicates that the DCI based beam update isallowed and a TCI pool is configured, the field may contain X bits,where X may equal the size of TCI pool. If the DCI based beam update isnot allowed, or no TCI pool has been configured at UE, then the fieldmay have zero bits. In some aspects, the base station may use a reservedbit in the field or a reserved index to indicate when there is no beamupdate. In some aspects, such beam-updating DCI 508 of a DCI format withone or more fields for indicating TCI state may be added in any of DCIformats 0_0, 0_1, 0_2, 1_0, 1_1, or 1_2 for scheduling a transmission,such as the communication 512. In some aspects, the base station mayindicate a beam update and schedule a transmission in the DCI based on arule that indicates whether such transmission is allowed. In someaspects, the base station may indicate a beam update and schedule atransmission in the DCI based on signaling that indicates whether thecombined beam update/transmission scheduling is allowed or supported. Ifallowed, supported, or enabled, an indication in the beam-updating DCI508 may indicate whether the beam-updating DCI 508 is also used forscheduling a transmission in addition to the beam update. For example,one or more additional bits or a particular field set may be used forthe indication. In some aspects, the bits or the field may be to areserved index when the DCI does not include a scheduling grant.

In some aspects, the base station 504 may transmit a first stage DCI 506prior to transmitting the beam-updating DCI 508. The first stage DCI 506may be of one of DCI formats 0_0, 0_1, 0_2, 1_0, 1_1, or 1_2. The firststage DCI may schedule a second stage message (such as the beam-updatingDCI 508) which contains the beam indication information. The first stageDCI may use a reserved bit, a sequence in some fields or a new/reservedfield to indicate that the second stage message is for a beam indicationor beam update. In some aspects, the second stage message may be amedium access control (MAC) control element (CE) (MAC-CE) instead of asecond DCI. In some aspects, the PDSCH carrying the MAC-CE may bescheduled by the first stage DCI 506 or using a configured resource. Insome aspects, the second stage message may be carried by a PDSCH (e.g.,scheduled by the first stage DCI 506) or PDCCH. In some aspects, thePDSCH or PDCCH may be transmitted via a resource identified based on arule, such as a defined number of slots after the first stage DCI 506.In some aspects, the PDSCH or the PDCCH may be transmitted in aconfigured resources, e.g., a configured number of slots after the firststage DCI.

In some aspects, the beam-updating DCI 508 may use a different DCIformat than one of DCI formats 0_0, 0_1, 0_2, 1_0, 1_1, or 1_2. In suchaspects, the beam-updating DCI 508 may be of a format used for updatingTCI indication, e.g., dedicated for updating a TCI state, e.g., beamupdating. The base station may indicate the updated TCI ID, applicablechannel/RS for the beam update in the beam-updating DCI 508. In someaspects, the beam-updating DCI 508 may indicate a CC, a bandwidth part(BWP), or a CC group for the beam update. If the CC indication is notpresent, the UE 502 may use an implicit rule to determine the applicableCC, e.g. the CC of receiving the DCI. In such aspects, the beam-updatingDCI 508 may be of a format also used for updating TCI state content. Insome aspects, one or more search spaces (SS) may be configured for theUE 502. In such aspects where the beam-updating DCI 508 may be of aformat used for updating TCI indication, the beam-updating DCI 508 maybe used for scheduling a transmission (e.g., communication 512) at thesame time.

In some aspects, when the beam updating DCI 508 also schedules a DL orUL transmission (e.g., the communication 512), then the acknowledgment(ACK) for the DL transmission or the UL transmission may be consideredas ACK to the DCI and a dedicated ACK 510 for the beam update DCI maynot be needed, e.g., the UE may not transmit a dedicated ACK for thebeam update DCI. In some aspects where the beam updating DCI 508 doesnot schedule the communication 512, the UE may transmit a dedicated ACK510 for the beam update DCI. In some aspects, the UE may transmit theACK 510 in uplink control information (UCI), either in PUSCH or PUCCH.In some aspects, the UE may transmit the ACK 510 a period X afterreceiving last PDCCH symbol containing the beam updating DCI 508. Insome aspects, the time period X may be determined by tone spacing of theCC receiving DCI and that of the CC to apply the beam indication and mayalso be determined based on a UE capability of the UE 502. In someaspects, the application of the new beam indicated in the DCI may takeplace a period time of Y after the UE sends (a last symbol of) the ACK510 to the beam update indication. The period of time Y may be based onUE capability of the UE 502. In some aspects, Y may be also based on thetone spacing of at least one of the CC sending ACK, the CC receivingACK, or the CC to apply beam update. If beam update takes place inmultiple CCs, then one of the CCs, e.g. the one with smallest tonespacing, may be used to determine X and/or Y.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart 600 of a method of wireless communication. Themethod may be performed by a UE (e.g., the UE 104, the UE 404, the UE502; the apparatus 802). Optional steps are illustrated in dashed lines.The steps are not necessarily illustrated in chronological order. Themethod may enable DCI that indicates a TCI state update for one ofvarious types of TCI state updates.

At 602, the UE receives DCI. In some aspects, 602 may be performed byDCI reception component 842 in FIG. 8. FIG. 5A illustrates an example ofa UE 502 receiving DCI 508 from a base station 504. In some aspects, theDCI further comprises beam indication information comprising a TCI stateID of the TCI state that indicates the beam. In some aspects, the DCIcomprises a HARQ ID field indicating a TCI state ID of the TCI statethat indicates the beam. In some aspects, the DCI comprises a TCI stateID field indicating the TCI state that indicates the beam. In someaspects, the DCI is used for scheduling the beam when: a channel for thebeam update, a reference signal and target channel, and a scheduledchannel are a same channel or a beam for the scheduled channel and abeam for the beam update are defined in a common TCI state. In someaspects, the DCI comprises a dedicated field indicating that the beamupdate is for the uplink, the downlink, or the combination of the uplinkand the downlink. In some aspects, a payload of the DCI is configuredvia RRC signaling. In some aspects, the DCI schedules an uplinktransmission or a downlink transmission. In some aspects, the DCI is ofa format used for beam update. In some aspects, a dedicated SS isconfigured at the UE for monitoring the DCI. In some aspects, the DCIdoes not schedule a transmission.

At 604, the UE may determine, based on the DCI, whether the DCI isassociated with a beam update for uplink, downlink, or a combination ofthe uplink and the downlink. In some aspects, 604 may be performed byDCI determining component 844 in FIG. 8. The determination may includeany of the aspects described in connection with the determination, at509, in FIG. 5A. In some aspects, the DCI comprises a sequenceassociated with the beam update and the UE uses the sequence todetermine whether the beam update is for the uplink, the downlink, orthe combination of the uplink and the downlink. In some aspects, thesequence is different from a sequence used for scheduling atransmission. In some aspects, a CRC associated with the DCI isscrambled with a CS-RNTI and the sequence is different from a sequenceused for SPS PDSCH activation or release. In some aspects, a CRCassociated with the DCI is scrambled with a C-RNTI, and wherein thesequence is a combination of one or more of: a RV field, a FDRA field, aTDRA field, a HARQ process number field, or a MCS field. In someaspects, a CRC associated with the DCI is scrambled with a BU-RNTIdedicated for beam updating and the UE determines that the DCI indicatesthe beam update for the uplink, the downlink, or the combination of theuplink and the downlink based on the BU-RNTI. In some aspects, prior todetermining that the DCI is associated with a beam update, the UEreceives a second stage message including a second DCI or a MAC-CE in aPDCCH or a PDSCH scheduled by the DCI.

At 606, the UE may determine, from the DCI, a TCI state that indicates abeam for the uplink, the downlink, or the combination of the uplink andthe downlink. In some aspects, 606 may be performed by TCI statedetermining component 846 in FIG. 8.

At 608, the UE may transmit an acknowledgment. In some aspects, 608 maybe performed by ACK component 848 in FIG. 8. The determination mayinclude any of the aspects described in connection with thedetermination, at 509, in FIG. 5A. In some aspects, the UE transmits anon-dedicated acknowledgment, such as a uplink transmission or anacknowledgment of a downlink transmission, acknowledging reception ofthe DCI when the DCI schedules a downlink transmission or an uplinktransmission. In some aspects, the UE transmits a dedicatedacknowledgment acknowledging reception of the DCI when the DCI does notschedule a downlink transmission or an uplink transmission. In someaspects, the UE may transmit UCI acknowledging reception of the DCI. Insome aspects, the UE receives a new beam indication after a period oftime after transmitting the acknowledgment. In some aspects, the periodof time is determined based on a set of UE capability metrics of the UE.In some aspects, the period of time is determined based on a tonespacing of a CC receiving the DCI and a tone spacing of a CCtransmitting the acknowledgment.

At 610, the UE may transmit an uplink transmission. In some aspects, 610may be performed by uplink component 850 in FIG. 8. In some aspects, theUE determines that the beam update is for the uplink and the UE maytransmit an uplink transmission using the beam based on the TCI state.In some aspects, the TCI state indicates at least two uplink channels.In some aspects, the UE determines that the beam update is for theuplink and the downlink and the UE may transmit an uplink transmissionand receive a downlink transmission based on the beam update.

At 612, the UE may receive a downlink transmission. In some aspects, 612may be performed by downlink component 852 in FIG. 8. In some aspects,the UE determines that the beam update is for the downlink transmissionand the UE may receive a downlink transmission using the beam based onthe TCI state. In some aspects, the TCI state indicates at least twodownlink channels.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart 700 of a method of wireless communication. Themethod may be performed by a base station (e.g., the base station102/180, the base station 402, the base station 504; the apparatus 902).Optional steps are illustrated in dashed lines. The steps are notnecessarily illustrated in chronological order. The method may enablethe base station to transmit DCI to a UE that indicates a TCI stateupdate for one of various types of TCI state updates.

At 702, the base station may transmit DCI indicating a beam update foruplink, downlink, or a combination of the uplink and the downlink. Insome aspects, 602 may be performed by DCI component 942 in FIG. 9. FIG.5A illustrates an example of a base station 504 transmitting a beamupdating DCI 508 to a UE 502. In some aspects, the DCI further comprisesbeam indication information comprising a TCI state ID of the TCI statethat indicates the beam. In some aspects, the DCI comprises a HARQ IDfield indicating a TCI state ID of the TCI state that indicates thebeam. In some aspects, the DCI comprises a TCI state ID field indicatingthe TCI state that indicates the beam.

At 703, the base station indicates in the DCI that the DCI is for thebeam update. The indication may be performed by the DCI component 942 inFIG. 9. The indication may be based on any of the aspects described inconnection with the beam updating DCI 508 in FIG. 5A. In some aspects,the DCI is used for scheduling the beam when: a channel for the beamupdate, a reference signal and target channel, and a scheduled channelare a same channel or a beam for the scheduled channel and a beam forthe beam update are defined in a common TCI state. In some aspects, theDCI comprises a dedicated field indicating that the beam update is forthe uplink, the downlink, or the combination of the uplink and thedownlink. In some aspects, a payload of the DCI is configured via RRCsignaling. In some aspects, the DCI schedules an uplink transmission ora downlink transmission. In some aspects, the DCI is of a format usedfor beam update. In some aspects, a dedicated SS is configured at the UEfor monitoring the DCI. In some aspects, the DCI does not schedule atransmission. In some aspects, the DCI comprises a sequence associatedwith the beam update and the UE uses the sequence to determine whetherthe beam update is for the uplink, the downlink, or the combination ofthe uplink and the downlink. In some aspects, the sequence is differentfrom a sequence used for scheduling a transmission. In some aspects, aCRC associated with the DCI is scrambled with a CS-RNTI and the sequenceis different from a sequence used for SPS PDSCH activation or release.In some aspects, a CRC associated with the DCI is scrambled with aC-RNTI, and wherein the sequence is a combination of one or more of: aRV field, a FDRA field, a TDRA field, a HARQ process number field, or aMCS field. In some aspects, a CRC associated with the DCI is scrambledwith a BU-RNTI dedicated for beam updating and the UE determines thatthe DCI indicates the beam update for the uplink, the downlink, or thecombination of the uplink and the downlink based on the BU-RNTI. In someaspects, prior to determining that the DCI is associated with a beamupdate, the UE receives a second stage message including a second DCI ora MAC-CE in a PDCCH or a PDSCH scheduled by the DCI.

At 704, the base station may receive an acknowledgment. In some aspects,608 may be performed by ACK processing component 944 in FIG. 9. In someaspects, the base station receives a non-dedicated acknowledgment, suchas a uplink transmission or an acknowledgment of a downlinktransmission, that may serve as acknowledging reception of the DCI whenthe DCI schedules a downlink transmission or an uplink transmissionwithout receiving a dedicated acknowledgment. In some aspects, the basestation receives a dedicated acknowledgment acknowledging reception ofthe DCI when the DCI does not schedule a downlink transmission or anuplink transmission. In some aspects, the acknowledgment may be in theform of a UCI. In some aspects, the base station transmits a new beamindication after a period of time after receiving the acknowledgment. Insome aspects, the period of time is determined based on a set of UEcapability metrics of the UE. In some aspects, the period of time isdetermined based on a tone spacing of a CC receiving the DCI and a tonespacing of a CC transmitting the acknowledgment.

At 706, the base station may receive an uplink transmission. In someaspects, 610 may be performed by uplink component 946 in FIG. 9. In someaspects, the TCI state indicates at least two uplink channels. In someaspects, the beam update is for the uplink and the downlink.

At 708, the base station may transmit a downlink transmission. In someaspects, 708 may be performed by downlink component 948 in FIG. 9. Insome aspects, the UE determines that the beam update is for the downlinktransmission and the UE may receive a downlink transmission using thebeam based on the TCI state. In some aspects, the TCI state indicates atleast two downlink channels.

FIG. 8 is a diagram 800 illustrating an example of a hardwareimplementation for an apparatus 802. The apparatus 802 is a UE andincludes a cellular baseband processor 804 (also referred to as a modem)coupled to a cellular RF transceiver 822 and one or more subscriberidentity modules (SIM) cards 820, an application processor 806 coupledto a secure digital (SD) card 808 and a screen 810, a Bluetooth module812, a wireless local area network (WLAN) module 814, a GlobalPositioning System (GPS) module 816, and a power supply 818. Thecellular baseband processor 804 communicates through the cellular RFtransceiver 822 with the UE 104 and/or BS 102/180. The cellular basebandprocessor 804 may include a computer-readable medium/memory. Thecomputer-readable medium/memory may be non-transitory. The cellularbaseband processor 804 is responsible for general processing, includingthe execution of software stored on the computer-readable medium/memory.The software, when executed by the cellular baseband processor 804,causes the cellular baseband processor 804 to perform the variousfunctions described supra. The computer-readable medium/memory may alsobe used for storing data that is manipulated by the cellular basebandprocessor 804 when executing software. The cellular baseband processor804 further includes a reception component 830, a communication manager832, and a transmission component 834. The communication manager 832includes the one or more illustrated components. The components withinthe communication manager 832 may be stored in the computer-readablemedium/memory and/or configured as hardware within the cellular basebandprocessor 804. The cellular baseband processor 804 may be a component ofthe UE 350 and may include the memory 360 and/or at least one of the TXprocessor 368, the RX processor 356, and the controller/processor 359.In one configuration, the apparatus 802 may be a modem chip and includejust the baseband processor 804, and in another configuration, theapparatus 802 may be the entire UE (e.g., see 350 of FIG. 3) and includethe afore discussed additional modules of the apparatus 802.

The communication manager 832 includes a DCI reception component 842that is configured to receive DCI, e.g., as described in connection with602 in FIG. 6. The communication manager 832 may further include a DCIdetermining component 844 that is configured to determine, based on theDCI, whether the DCI is associated with a beam update for uplink,downlink, or a combination of the uplink and the downlink, e.g., asdescribed in connection with 604 in FIG. 6. The communication manager832 may further include a TCI state determining component 846 that isconfigured to determine, from the DCI, a TCI state that indicates a beamfor the uplink, the downlink, or the combination of the uplink and thedownlink, e.g., as described in connection with 606 in FIG. 6. Thecommunication manager 832 may further include an ACK component 848 thatis configured to transmit an acknowledgment, e.g., as described inconnection with 608 in FIG. 6. The communication manager 832 may furtherinclude an uplink component 850 that is configured to transmit an uplinktransmission, e.g., as described in connection with 610 in FIG. 6. Thecommunication manager 832 may further include a downlink component 852that is configured to receive a downlink transmission, e.g., asdescribed in connection with 612 in FIG. 6.

The apparatus may include additional components that perform each of theblocks of the algorithm in the aforementioned flowchart of FIG. 6. Assuch, each block in the aforementioned flowchart of FIG. 6 may beperformed by a component and the apparatus may include one or more ofthose components. The components may be one or more hardware componentsspecifically configured to carry out the stated processes/algorithm,implemented by a processor configured to perform the statedprocesses/algorithm, stored within a computer-readable medium forimplementation by a processor, or some combination thereof.

In one configuration, the apparatus 802, and in particular the cellularbaseband processor 804, includes means for receiving DCI. The cellularbaseband processor 804 may further include means for determining, basedon the DCI, whether the DCI is associated with a beam update for uplink,downlink, or a combination of the uplink and the downlink. The cellularbaseband processor 804 may further include means for determining, fromthe DCI, a TCI state that indicates a beam for the uplink, the downlink,or the combination of the uplink and the downlink. The cellular basebandprocessor 804 may further include means for transmitting an uplinktransmission using the beam based on the TCI state. The cellularbaseband processor 804 may further include means for receiving adownlink transmission using the beam based on the TCI state. Thecellular baseband processor 804 may further include means fortransmitting an uplink transmission based on the beam update. Thecellular baseband processor 804 may further include means for receivinga downlink transmission based on the beam update. The cellular basebandprocessor 804 may further include means for receiving a second stagemessage including a second DCI or a MAC-CE in a PDCCH or a PDSCHscheduled by the DCI prior to determining that the DCI is associatedwith a beam update. The cellular baseband processor 804 may furtherinclude means for transmitting an UCI acknowledging reception of theDCI, wherein the DCI schedules a downlink transmission or an uplinktransmission. The cellular baseband processor 804 may further includemeans for transmitting a dedicated acknowledgment acknowledgingreception of the DCI. The cellular baseband processor 804 may furtherinclude means for receiving a new beam indication after a period of timeafter transmitting the acknowledgment.

The aforementioned means may be one or more of the aforementionedcomponents of the apparatus 802 configured to perform the functionsrecited by the aforementioned means. As described supra, the apparatus802 may include the TX Processor 368, the RX Processor 356, and thecontroller/processor 359. As such, in one configuration, theaforementioned means may be the TX Processor 368, the RX Processor 356,and the controller/processor 359 configured to perform the functionsrecited by the aforementioned means.

FIG. 9 is a diagram 900 illustrating an example of a hardwareimplementation for an apparatus 902. The apparatus 902 is a BS andincludes a baseband unit 904. The baseband unit 904 may communicatethrough a cellular RF transceiver 922 with the UE 104. The baseband unit904 may include a computer-readable medium/memory. The baseband unit 904is responsible for general processing, including the execution ofsoftware stored on the computer-readable medium/memory. The software,when executed by the baseband unit 904, causes the baseband unit 904 toperform the various functions described supra. The computer-readablemedium/memory may also be used for storing data that is manipulated bythe baseband unit 904 when executing software. The baseband unit 904further includes a reception component 930, a communication manager 932,and a transmission component 934. The communication manager 932 includesthe one or more illustrated components. The components within thecommunication manager 932 may be stored in the computer-readablemedium/memory and/or configured as hardware within the baseband unit904. The baseband unit 904 may be a component of the BS 310 and mayinclude the memory 376 and/or at least one of the TX processor 316, theRX processor 370, and the controller/processor 375.

The communication manager 932 includes a DCI component 942 that receivesDCI, e.g., as described in connection with 702 in FIG. 7. Thecommunication manager 932 further includes a ACK processing component944 that receives an acknowledgment, e.g., as described in connectionwith 704 in FIG. 7. The communication manager 932 further includes auplink component 946 that receives an uplink transmission, e.g., asdescribed in connection with 706 in FIG. 7. The communication manager932 further includes a downlink component 948 that transmits a downlinktransmission, e.g., as described in connection with 708 in FIG. 7.

The apparatus may include additional components that perform each of theblocks of the algorithm in the aforementioned flowchart of FIG. 7. Assuch, each block in the aforementioned flowchart of FIG. 7 may beperformed by a component and the apparatus may include one or more ofthose components. The components may be one or more hardware componentsspecifically configured to carry out the stated processes/algorithm,implemented by a processor configured to perform the statedprocesses/algorithm, stored within a computer-readable medium forimplementation by a processor, or some combination thereof.

In one configuration, the apparatus 902, and in particular the basebandunit 904, includes means for transmitting DCI. The baseband unit 904 mayfurther include means for transmitting a downlink transmission using thebeam based on the TCI state. The baseband unit 904 may further includemeans for receiving an uplink transmission. The baseband unit 904 mayfurther include means for transmitting a downlink transmission. Thebaseband unit 904 may further include means for transmitting a secondstage message including a second DCI or a MAC-CE in a PDCCH or a PDSCHscheduled by the DCI. The baseband unit 904 may further include meansfor receiving an UCI acknowledging reception of the DCI, wherein the DCIschedules a downlink transmission or an uplink transmission. Thebaseband unit 904 may further include means for receiving a dedicatedacknowledgment acknowledging reception of the DCI. The baseband unit 904may further include means for transmitting a new beam indication after aperiod of time after receiving the acknowledgment.

The aforementioned means may be one or more of the aforementionedcomponents of the apparatus 902 configured to perform the functionsrecited by the aforementioned means. As described supra, the apparatus902 may include the TX Processor 316, the RX Processor 370, and thecontroller/processor 375. As such, in one configuration, theaforementioned means may be the TX Processor 316, the RX Processor 370,and the controller/processor 375 configured to perform the functionsrecited by the aforementioned means.

It is understood that the specific order or hierarchy of blocks in theprocesses/flowcharts disclosed is an illustration of example approaches.Based upon design preferences, it is understood that the specific orderor hierarchy of blocks in the processes/flowcharts may be rearranged.Further, some blocks may be combined or omitted. The accompanying methodclaims present elements of the various blocks in a sample order, and arenot meant to be limited to the specific order or hierarchy presented.

The previous description is provided to enable any person skilled in theart to practice the various aspects described herein. Variousmodifications to these aspects will be readily apparent to those skilledin the art, and the generic principles defined herein may be applied toother aspects. Thus, the claims are not intended to be limited to theaspects shown herein, but is to be accorded the full scope consistentwith the language claims, wherein reference to an element in thesingular is not intended to mean “one and only one” unless specificallyso stated, but rather “one or more.” Terms such as “if,” “when,” and“while” should be interpreted to mean “under the condition that” ratherthan imply an immediate temporal relationship or reaction. That is,these phrases, e.g., “when,” do not imply an immediate action inresponse to or during the occurrence of an action, but simply imply thatif a condition is met then an action will occur, but without requiring aspecific or immediate time constraint for the action to occur. The word“exemplary” is used herein to mean “serving as an example, instance, orillustration.” Any aspect described herein as “exemplary” is notnecessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over otheraspects. Unless specifically stated otherwise, the term “some” refers toone or more. Combinations such as “at least one of A, B, or C,” “one ormore of A, B, or C,” “at least one of A, B, and C,” “one or more of A,B, and C,” and “A, B, C, or any combination thereof” include anycombination of A, B, and/or C, and may include multiples of A, multiplesof B, or multiples of C. Specifically, combinations such as “at leastone of A, B, or C,” “one or more of A, B, or C,” “at least one of A, B,and C,” “one or more of A, B, and C,” and “A, B, C, or any combinationthereof” may be A only, B only, C only, A and B, A and C, B and C, or Aand B and C, where any such combinations may contain one or more memberor members of A, B, or C. All structural and functional equivalents tothe elements of the various aspects described throughout this disclosurethat are known or later come to be known to those of ordinary skill inthe art are expressly incorporated herein by reference and are intendedto be encompassed by the claims. Moreover, nothing disclosed herein isintended to be dedicated to the public regardless of whether suchdisclosure is explicitly recited in the claims. The words “module,”“mechanism,” “element,” “device,” and the like may not be a substitutefor the word “means.” As such, no claim element is to be construed as ameans plus function unless the element is expressly recited using thephrase “means for.”

The following aspects are illustrative only and may be combined withother aspects or teachings described herein, without limitation.

Aspect 1 is a method of wireless communication at a UE, comprising:receiving DCI; determining, based on the DCI, whether the DCI isassociated with a beam update for uplink, downlink, or a combination ofthe uplink and the downlink; and determining, from the DCI, a TCI statethat indicates a beam for the uplink, the downlink, or the combinationof the uplink and the downlink.

Aspect 2 is the method of aspect 1, wherein the UE determines that thebeam update is for the uplink, the method further comprising:transmitting an uplink transmission using the beam based on the TCIstate.

Aspect 3 is the method of any of aspects 1-2, wherein the TCI stateindicates at least two uplink channels.

Aspect 4 is the method of any of aspects 1-3, wherein the UE determinesthat the beam update is for the downlink transmission, the methodfurther comprising: receiving a downlink transmission using the beambased on the TCI state.

Aspect 5 is the method of any of aspects 1-4, wherein the TCI stateindicates at least two downlink channels.

Aspect 6 is the method of any of aspects 1-5, wherein the UE determinesthat the beam update is for the uplink and the downlink, the methodfurther comprising: transmitting an uplink transmission based on thebeam update; and receiving a downlink transmission based on the beamupdate.

Aspect 7 is the method of any of aspects 1-6, wherein the DCI comprisesa sequence associated with the beam update, and the UE uses the sequenceto determine whether the beam update is for the uplink, the downlink, orthe combination of the uplink and the downlink.

Aspect 8 is the method of any of aspects 1-7, wherein the DCI furthercomprises beam indication information comprising a TCI state ID of theTCI state that indicates the beam.

Aspect 9 is the method of any of aspects 1-8, wherein the sequence isdifferent from a sequence used for scheduling a transmission.

Aspect 10 is the method of any of aspects 1-9, wherein a CRC associatedwith the DCI is scrambled with a CS-RNTI, and wherein the sequence isdifferent from a sequence used for SPS PDSCH activation or release.

Aspect 11 is the method of any of aspects 1-9, wherein a CRC associatedwith the DCI is scrambled with a C-RNTI, and wherein the sequence is acombination of one or more of: a RV field, a FDRA field, a TDRA field, aHARQ process number field, or a MCS field.

Aspect 12 is the method of any of aspects 1-9, wherein a CRC associatedwith the DCI is scrambled with a C-RNTI, and wherein the sequence is acombination of one or more of: a RV field, a NDI field, a FDRA field, aHARQ process number field, or a MCS field.

Aspect 13 is the method of any of aspects 1-12, wherein the DCI does notschedule a transmission.

Aspect 14 is the method of any of aspects 1-9, wherein a CRC associatedwith the DCI is scrambled with a BU-RNTI dedicated for beam updating andthe UE determines that the DCI indicates the beam update for the uplink,the downlink, or the combination of the uplink and the downlink based onthe BU-RNTI.

Aspect 15 is the method of any of aspects 1-14, wherein the DCIcomprises a HARQ ID field indicating a TCI state ID of the TCI statethat indicates the beam.

Aspect 16 is the method of any of aspects 1-15, wherein the DCIcomprises a TCI state ID field indicating the TCI state that indicatesthe beam, and wherein the DCI is used for scheduling the beam when: achannel for the beam update, a reference signal and target channel, anda scheduled channel are a same channel; or a beam for the scheduledchannel and a beam for the beam update are defined in a common TCIstate.

Aspect 17 is the method of any of aspects 1-16, wherein the DCIcomprises a dedicated field indicating that the beam update is for theuplink, the downlink, or the combination of the uplink and the downlink.

Aspect 18 is the method of any of aspects 1-17, wherein a payload of theDCI is configured via RRC signaling.

Aspect 19 is the method of any of aspects 1-8 and 16-18, wherein the DCIschedules an uplink transmission or a downlink transmission.

Aspect 20 is the method of any of aspects 1-19, further comprising:prior to determining that the DCI is associated with a beam update,receiving a second stage message including a second DCI or a mediumaccess control MAC-CE in a PDCCH or a PDSCH scheduled by the DCI.

Aspect 21 is the method of any of aspects 1-20, wherein the DCI is of aformat used for beam update.

Aspect 22 is the method of any of aspects 1-21, wherein a dedicated SSis configured at the UE for monitoring the DCI.

Aspect 23 is the method of any of aspects 1-22, further comprisingtransmitting a non-dedicated acknowledgment in acknowledging receptionof the DCI, wherein the DCI schedules a downlink transmission or anuplink transmission.

Aspect 24 is the method of any of aspects 1-23, further comprisingtransmitting a dedicated acknowledgment acknowledging reception of theDCI, wherein the DCI does not schedule a downlink transmission or anuplink transmission.

Aspect 25 is the method of any of aspects 1-24, further comprisingreceiving a new beam indication after a period of time aftertransmitting the acknowledgment.

Aspect 26 is the method of any of aspects 1-25, wherein the period oftime is determined based on a set of UE capability metrics of the UE.

Aspect 27 is the method of any of aspects 1-26, wherein the period oftime is determined based on a tone spacing of a CC receiving the DCI anda tone spacing of a CC transmitting the acknowledgment.

Aspect 28 is a method of wireless communication at a base stationcomprising: transmitting DCI indicating a beam update for uplink,downlink, or a combination of the uplink and the downlink; andindicating in the DCI that the DCI is for the beam update.

Aspect 29 is the method of aspect 28, wherein the TCI state indicates atleast two uplink channels.

Aspect 30 is the method of any of aspects 28-29, further comprising:transmitting a downlink transmission using the beam based on the TCIstate.

Aspect 31 is the method of any of aspects 28-30, wherein the TCI stateindicates at least two downlink channels.

Aspect 32 is the method of any of aspects 28-31, further comprising:receiving an uplink transmission based on the beam update; andtransmitting a downlink transmission based on the beam update.

Aspect 33 is the method of any of aspects 28-32, wherein the DCIcomprises a sequence associated with the beam update.

Aspect 34 is the method of any of aspects 28-33, wherein the DCI furthercomprises beam indication information comprising a TCI state ID of theTCI state that indicates the beam.

Aspect 35 is the method of any of aspects 28-34, wherein the sequence isdifferent from a sequence used for scheduling a transmission.

Aspect 36 is the method of any of aspects 28-35, wherein a CRCassociated with the DCI is scrambled with a CS-RNTI, and wherein thesequence is different from a sequence used for SPS PDSCH activation orrelease.

Aspect 37 is the method of any of aspects 28-35, wherein a CRCassociated with the DCI is scrambled with a C-RNTI, and wherein thesequence is a combination of one or more of: a RV field, a FDRA field, aTDRA field, a HARQ process number field, or a MCS field.

Aspect 38 is the method of any of aspects 28-35, wherein a CRCassociated with the DCI is scrambled with a C-RNTI, and wherein thesequence is a combination of one or more of: a RV field, a NDI field, aFDRA field, a HARQ process number field, or a MCS field.

Aspect 39 is the method of any of aspects 28-38, wherein the DCI doesnot schedule a transmission.

Aspect 40 is the method of any of aspects 28-35, wherein a CRCassociated with the DCI is scrambled with a BU-RNTI dedicated for beamupdating and the UE determines that the DCI indicates the beam updatefor the uplink, the downlink, or the combination of the uplink and thedownlink based on the BU-RNTI.

Aspect 41 is the method of any of aspects 28-40, wherein the DCIcomprises a HARQ ID field indicating a TCI state ID of the TCI statethat indicates the beam.

Aspect 42 is the method of any of aspects 28-41, wherein the DCIcomprises a TCI state ID field indicating the TCI state that indicatesthe beam, and wherein the DCI is used for scheduling the beam when: achannel for the beam update, a reference signal and target channel, anda scheduled channel are a same channel; or a beam for the scheduledchannel and a beam for the beam update are defined in a common TCIstate.

Aspect 43 is the method of any of aspects 28-42, wherein the DCIcomprises a dedicated field indicating that the beam update is for theuplink, the downlink, or the combination of the uplink and the downlink.

Aspect 44 is the method of any of aspects 28-43, wherein a payload ofthe DCI is configured via RRC signaling.

Aspect 45 is the method of any of aspects 28-34 and 42-44, wherein theDCI schedules an uplink transmission or a downlink transmission.

Aspect 46 is the method of any of aspects 28-45, further comprising:prior to determining that the DCI is associated with a beam update,receiving a second stage message including a second DCI or a mediumaccess control MAC-CE in a PDCCH or a PDSCH scheduled by the DCI.

Aspect 47 is the method of any of aspects 28-46, wherein the DCI is of aformat used for beam update.

Aspect 48 is the method of any of aspects 28-47, wherein a dedicated SSis configured at the UE for monitoring the DCI.

Aspect 49 is the method of any of aspects 28-48, further comprisingtransmitting a non-dedicated acknowledgment in acknowledging receptionof the DCI, wherein the DCI schedules a downlink transmission or anuplink transmission.

Aspect 50 is the method of any of aspects 28-49, further comprisingreceiving a dedicated acknowledgment acknowledging reception of the DCI,wherein the DCI does not schedule a downlink transmission or an uplinktransmission.

Aspect 51 is the method of any of aspects 28-50, further comprisingtransmitting a new beam indication after a period of time aftertransmitting the acknowledgment.

Aspect 52 is the method of any of aspects 28-51, wherein the period oftime is determined based on a set of UE capability metrics of the UE.

Aspect 53 is the method of any of aspects 28-52, wherein the period oftime is determined based on a tone spacing of a CC receiving the DCI anda tone spacing of a CC transmitting the acknowledgment.

Aspect 54 is an apparatus for wireless communication including at leastone processor coupled to a memory and configured to implement a methodas in any of aspects 1 to 27.

Aspect 55 is an apparatus for wireless communication including at leastone processor coupled to a memory and configured to implement a methodas in any of aspects 28 to 53.

Aspect 56 is an apparatus for wireless communication including means forimplementing a method as in any of aspects 1 to 27.

Aspect 57 is an apparatus for wireless communication including means forimplementing a method as in any of aspects 28 to 53.

Aspect 58 is a computer-readable medium storing computer executablecode, where the code when executed by a processor causes the processorto implement a method as in any of aspects 1 to 27.

Aspect 59 is a computer-readable medium storing computer executablecode, where the code when executed by a processor causes the processorto implement a method as in any of aspects 28 to 53.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of wireless communication at a userequipment (UE), comprising: receiving downlink control information(DCI); determining, based on the DCI, whether the DCI is associated witha beam update for uplink, downlink, or a combination of the uplink andthe downlink; and determining, from the DCI, a transmissionconfiguration indicator (TCI) state that indicates a beam for theuplink, the downlink, or the combination of the uplink and the downlink.2. The method of claim 1, wherein the UE determines that the beam updateis for the uplink, the method further comprising: transmitting an uplinktransmission using the beam based on the TCI state.
 3. The method ofclaim 2, wherein the TCI state indicates at least two uplink channels.4. The method of claim 1, wherein the UE determines that the beam updateis for the downlink transmission, the method further comprising:receiving a downlink transmission using the beam based on the TCI state.5. The method of claim 4, wherein the TCI state indicates at least twodownlink channels.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein the UE determinesthat the beam update is for the uplink and the downlink, the methodfurther comprising: transmitting an uplink transmission based on thebeam update; and receiving a downlink transmission based on the beamupdate.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein the DCI comprises a sequenceassociated with the beam update, and the UE uses the sequence todetermine whether the beam update is for the uplink, the downlink, orthe combination of the uplink and the downlink.
 8. The method of claim7, wherein the DCI further comprises beam indication informationcomprising a TCI state identifier (ID) of the TCI state that indicatesthe beam.
 9. The method of claim 7, wherein the sequence is differentfrom a sequence used for scheduling a transmission.
 10. The method ofclaim 7, wherein a CRC associated with the DCI is scrambled with aconfigured scheduling-radio network temporary identifier (RNTI)(CS-RNTI), and wherein the sequence is different from a sequence usedfor semi-persistent scheduling (SPS) physical downlink shared channel(PDSCH) activation or release.
 11. The method of claim 7, wherein acyclic redundancy check (CRC) associated with the DCI is scrambled witha cell-radio network temporary identifier (RNTI) (C-RNTI), and whereinthe sequence is a combination of one or more of: a redundancy version(RV) field, a frequency domain resource allocation (FDRA) field, a timedomain resource allocation (TDRA) field, a hybrid automatic repeatrequest (HARQ) process number field, or a modulation and coding scheme(MCS) field.
 12. The method of claim 7, wherein a cyclic redundancycheck (CRC) associated with the DCI is scrambled with a cell-radionetwork temporary identifier (RNTI) (C-RNTI), and wherein the sequenceis a combination of one or more of: a redundancy version (RV) field, anew data indicator (NDI) field, a frequency domain resource allocation(FDRA) field, a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) process numberfield, or a modulation and coding scheme (MCS) field.
 13. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the DCI does not schedule a transmission.
 14. Themethod of claim 1, wherein a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) associatedwith the DCI is scrambled with a beam-update network temporaryidentifier (RNTI) (BU-RNTI) dedicated for beam updating and the UEdetermines that the DCI indicates the beam update for the uplink, thedownlink, or the combination of the uplink and the downlink based on theBU-RNTI.
 15. The method of claim 14, wherein the DCI comprises a hybridautomatic repeat request (HARQ) identifier (ID) field indicating a TCIstate identifier (ID) of the TCI state that indicates the beam.
 16. Themethod of claim 14, wherein the DCI comprises a TCI state identifier(ID) field indicating the TCI state that indicates the beam, and whereinthe DCI is used for scheduling the beam when: a channel for the beamupdate, a reference signal and target channel, and a scheduled channelare a same channel; or a beam for the scheduled channel and a beam forthe beam update are defined in a common TCI state.
 17. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the DCI comprises a dedicated field indicating that thebeam update is for the uplink, the downlink, or the combination of theuplink and the downlink.
 18. The method of claim 17, wherein a payloadof the DCI is configured via radio resource control (RRC) signaling. 19.The method of claim 1, wherein the DCI schedules an uplink transmissionor a downlink transmission.
 20. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising: prior to determining that the DCI is associated with a beamupdate, receiving a second stage message including a second DCI or amedium access control (MAC) control element (CE) (MAC-CE) in a physicaldownlink control channel (PDCCH) or a physical downlink shared channel(PDSCH) scheduled by the DCI.
 21. The method of claim 1, wherein the DCIis of a format used for beam update.
 22. The method of claim 1, whereina dedicated search space (SS) is configured at the UE for monitoring theDCI.
 23. The method of claim 1, further comprising transmitting anon-dedicated acknowledgment in acknowledging reception of the DCI,wherein the DCI schedules a downlink transmission or an uplinktransmission.
 24. The method of claim 1, further comprising transmittinga dedicated acknowledgment acknowledging reception of the DCI, whereinthe DCI does not schedule a downlink transmission or an uplinktransmission.
 25. The method of claim 24, further comprising receiving anew beam indication after a period of time after transmitting theacknowledgment.
 26. The method of claim 25, wherein the period of timeis determined based on a set of UE capability metrics of the UE.
 27. Themethod of claim 25, wherein the period of time is determined based on atone spacing of a component carrier (CC) receiving the DCI and a tonespacing of a CC transmitting the acknowledgment.
 28. An apparatus forwireless communication at a user equipment (UE), comprising: a memory;and at least one processor coupled to the memory and configured to:receive downlink control information (DCI); determine, based on the DCI,whether the DCI is associated with a beam update for uplink, downlink,or a combination of the uplink and the downlink; and determine, from theDCI, a transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state that indicates abeam for the uplink, the downlink, or the combination of the uplink andthe downlink.
 29. A method of wireless communication at a base stationcomprising: transmitting downlink control information (DCI) indicating abeam update for uplink, downlink, or a combination of the uplink and thedownlink; and indicating in the DCI that the DCI is for the beam update.30. An apparatus for wireless communication at a base stationcomprising: a memory; and at least one processor coupled to the memoryand configured to: transmit downlink control information (DCI)indicating a beam update for uplink, downlink, or a combination of theuplink and the downlink; and indicate in the DCI that the DCI is for thebeam update.